NIFB14033U Development Economics

This is a course for students interested in the challenges posed
by the vast and enduring world poverty, in the way economists
conceptualize those challenges, their causes and solutions. Key
questions we will be discussing during this course include: What is
life like when living with under a dollar a day? Are famines
unavoidable? Is child labour necessary? Is education the key to
lift people out of poverty? Without property rights, is life
destined to be miserable? Why are the poor forest-dependent and the
forest-dependent poor? Does growth help the poorest of the
poor?

Blended learning combining
e-learning and classroom activities. E-learning is centred around
online asynchronous discussions in small groups (7-9 people). Each
week, students will be asked to (i) read the mandatory literature
(ii) participate in online asynchronous discussions on a particular
topic of relevance for the week’s theme; (iii) meet up in class to
discuss the reading material and solve problems (based on
quantitative and qualitative data).